Aldi has made the first delivery from its new distribution centre at Bardon in Leicestershire after investing more than £500m in the site.
The retailer reported that the site will employ around 1,000 people and forms part of Aldi’s £1.6bn investment in Britain during 2026 and 2027.
Planning for the site was approved in August 2020 and ground works began the following April with work on the main building was completed in 2024.
Bardon is made up of five linked buildings, including four ambient and six temperature-controlled chambers for chilled and frozen products.
Once fully operational, Bardon will serve nearly 350 stores across the UK and have the capacity to handle nearly seven million pallets of stock a year.
It will also serve as a National Replenishment Hub, supporting Aldi’s existing warehouse network.
And because it is Aldi’s highest-tech and most efficient Distribution Centre in the UK, it will support the supermarket’s promise to be the country’s lowest-price supermarket for years to come.
At 1.3 million ft², or more than 120,000m², Bardon is the UK’s largest Distribution Centre, containing 100 HGV bays at the front, and 40 at the rear.
Additionally, the 19,000 solar panels installed on the roof will, at times, be able to generate all the electricity required by the site.
Aldi UK and Ireland chief executive officer, Giles Hurley, said: “The technology in Bardon will significantly increase the efficiency of our warehouse network, meaning we can continue to deliver the best possible prices for our customers, every single day.
“Our ambition is to make quality groceries affordable and accessible to all, and that can only happen when everybody in Britain has an Aldi store on their doorstep.
‘That’s why we’re committing significant investment in opening new stores and Distribution Centres up and down the country, taking us closer to our goal of having 1,500 stores across the UK.”
